Final Report of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission Part 85

All women preparing and organizing exhibits in this group received awards. The exact proportion can not be determined until the jury make their final report.

Naturally, there were no inventions by women in this group, but the exhibits made, or nearly all of them, were improvements on such work at former expositions, and a great deal of originality was displayed presenting scientific material and installment of exhibits.

The artistic genius and method of displaying scientific material made this group very interesting to the general public, and the subjects could be comprehended with but little effort by the pa.s.sing visitor. At former expositions such subjects received little attention and were of no interest except to scientific investigators.

This exhibit as a whole showed that women have taken possession of several lines of work such as teaching and nursing, and that men have been practically forced out of these occupations. It also showed that they are entering many new fields, such as the medical profession and even becoming detectives, which demonstrates the fact that they are not inferior to men, but are more specially adapted to certain lines of work.

Group 141, Mrs. E.P. Turner, Dallas, Tex., Juror.

Owing to illness, Mrs. Turner served but two days on this jury, and was succeeded by Mrs. Conde Hamlin, who had been named by the board of lady managers as Mrs. Turner's alternate.

Under the group heading "Munic.i.p.al government," the five cla.s.ses into which it was divided represented: City organization.

Protection of life and property. Public-service industries.

Streets and sewers. Parks, baths, recreation, city beautification, etc.

Mrs. Hamlin became secretary of this jury, and reports as follows:

In the department in which I was a juror, namely, munic.i.p.al government, a good deal of the work was inspired by women, and some of it prepared by women. Women's work in civic improvement is well to the front. The work in the vacation schools, which was shown, in playgrounds, for clean streets, for smoke abatement, for better disposition of garbage, has in many cities been largely inspired by women. In fact, I know of no department where the women of the leisure cla.s.s are more actively interested and more efficient than in civic improvement work, and the results reached through the activities of the munic.i.p.al leagues, through officials, have been most marked. The Twin City munic.i.p.al exhibit I myself designed and largely prepared and administered, and was the resident member of the munic.i.p.al commission.

The nature of the exhibits in this department were charts and photographs, literature on civic improvement work for and by children in playgrounds, school gardens, etc. Civic work of women's clubs. The civic improvement movement may be said to have had its inception and development since the Chicago Fair; hence the display at St. Louis showed a decided and marked advance over the work of a similar nature shown at Chicago, but, naturally, there were no exhibits from foreign women, munic.i.p.al betterment work being new for both men and women, in the present understanding of the term. The work shown, of course, relating as it does to the social life of cities, would prove helpful to those interested in the advancement and success of women's work, but I saw no difference in appreciation shown in comparing the work of men and women, and the very nature of the work would not permit of its being separately exhibited, and it was not in all cases shown which had been performed or accomplished by women, which by men, although much of the work had been stimulated by women, but just how much they actually performed I can not say, and only two or three awards were given to women.

The board of lady managers was given recognition on each of the department juries, fifteen in number, namely, Education, Art, Liberal Arts, Manufactures, Machinery, Electricity, Transportation Exhibits, Agriculture, Horticulture, Forestry, Mines and Metallurgy, Fish and Game, Anthropology, Social Economy, Physical Culture.

The department jurors report as follows:

Department A, Education, Dr. Howard J. Rogers, Chief; Mrs. W.E. Fischel, St. Louis, Mo., Department Juror.

This department comprised 5 groups and 26 cla.s.ses, the group headings being Elementary education, Secondary education, Higher education, Special education in fine arts, Special education in agriculture, Special education in commerce and industry, Education of defectives, and Special forms of education--text-books--School furniture, and School appliances.

Mrs. Fischel writes:

The queries relative to woman's work at the exposition were duly received. I have given very careful consideration to the request of the accompanying letter and have deferred my answer so as to deliberate most intelligently. Reading the questions over, I found myself unable to form any opinion of woman's work as woman's work. Indeed, I have held very strongly to the opinion that the one great thing accomplished for women in this Louisiana Purchase Exposition was the exhibition of work as work without distinction as to s.e.x. In the jury room, when I served, no consideration of award was given to any s.e.x characteristic, and not having viewed the exhibits with any idea of specializing this feature I find myself now at a loss to particularize and say there was such a per cent of woman's work.

Department B, Art, Prof. Halsey C. Ives, Chief.

This department comprised 6 groups and 18 cla.s.ses, the group headings being Paintings and drawings, Engravings and lithographs, Sculpture, Architecture, Loan collection, and Original objects of art workmans.h.i.+p.

The board was most unfortunate in not being able to obtain the services of the prominent artists named for this position, all being abroad at the time notice of their appointment was sent, and having engagements upon their return that rendered it impossible for them to reach St.

Louis in time to serve.

Department C, Liberal Arts, Col. John A. Ocherson, Chief.

This department comprised 13 groups and 116 cla.s.ses, the group headings being Typography--Various printing processes; Photography; Books and publications--Bookbinding; Maps and apparatus for geography, cosmography, topography; Instruments of precision; Philosophical apparatus, etc.--Coins and medals; Medicine and surgery; Musical instruments; Theatrical appliances and equipment; Chemical and pharmaceutical arts; Manufacture of paper; Civil and military engineering; Models, plans, and designs for public works; Architectural engineering.

Mrs. H.A. Langford, of Chicago, Ill., was appointed as juror in this department, but unfortunately did not receive notice in time to serve.

Department D, Manufactures, Milan H. Hulbert, Chief; Miss Thekla M.

Bernays, of St. Louis, Mo., Department Juror.

This department comprised 24 groups and 231 cla.s.ses, the group headings being Stationery; Cutlery; Silversmiths' and goldsmiths' ware; Jewelry; Clock and watch making; Productions in marble, bronze, cast iron and wrought iron; Brushes, fine leather articles, fancy articles, and basket work; Articles for traveling and for camping; India-rubber and gutta-percha industries; Toys; Decoration and fixed furniture of buildings and dwellings; Office and household furniture; Stained gla.s.s; Mortuary monuments and undertakers' furnis.h.i.+ngs; Hardware; Paper hanging; Carpets, tapestries, and fabrics for upholstery; Upholsterers' decorations; Ceramics; Plumbing and sanitary materials; Gla.s.s and crystal; Apparatus and processes for heating and ventilation; Apparatus and methods, not electrical, for lighting; Textiles; Equipment and processes used in the manufacture of textile fabrics; Equipment and processes used in bleaching, dyeing, printing, and finis.h.i.+ng textiles in their various stages; Equipment and processes used in sewing and making wearing apparel; Threads and fabrics of cotton; Threads and fabrics of flax, hemp, etc.; Cordage; Yarns and fabrics of wool; Silk and fabrics of silk; Laces, embroidery, and tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs; Industries producing wearing apparel for men, women, and children; Leather, boots and shoes, furs and skins, fur clothing; Various industries connected with clothing.

Miss Bernays reports as follows:

In order to arrive at an accurate idea of the value of women's work as compared with men's, it would have been necessary to study the St. Louis Exposition from the time of its opening to the close, with a view to collecting data and statistics on this question. Furthermore, to get definite results regarding the progress of women since the Columbian Exposition one would have had to have access to the researches and statistics of former expositions on this subject, if such there exist. I visited both the Columbian Exposition of 1893 and the Paris Exposition of 1900, but I have only impressions of the work by women as exhibited there. Nor can I furnish figures, percentages, or even accurate estimates of women's work at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. The observations subjoined have value only in so far as the interest in women's work lies always in the under-current of my thought. Even under the terrific stress of the enormous amount of work pressed into the few short days of jury duty I was vividly impressed with the dignity of the work accomplished in arts and crafts by the women of Germany, where it was exhibited together with that of men. In the one instance where women secluded themselves it was shown with appalling force that the result was tawdry and inharmonious.

I was appointed by the board of lady managers to serve upon the department jury in the same cla.s.sification of which I had served as group juror, for "Kunstgewerbe" (Arts and Crafts). Finding my group divided into four cla.s.ses--Fixed inner decoration, Furniture, Stained gla.s.s, and Mortuary monuments--with numberless exhibits m various buildings all over the grounds, I elected to serve in the cla.s.s for "Fixed inner decoration." I was aware that I had been appointed for Germany because of the great interest I had taken in the movement for harmony in household art inaugurated in Germany about ten years ago. This movement admits of no division into "fixed inner decoration" and "furniture," etc., but regards the arrangement and decoration of s.p.a.ces with a view to the effect of the "ensemble." Following the lead of our distinguished chairman, Doctor Wuthesius, we adhered to this idea in spite of the barbarous separation ordered by the official instructions. Thus I was enabled to gain an insight into what women were accomplis.h.i.+ng in industrial art, which would have been impossible had I permitted myself to look only upon "fixed inner decoration."

The exhibits made by our own country in household art were meager compared to those of several foreign countries, notably Germany and Austria. Nor was it possible to gain information from our exhibitors as full and as accurate as from some of the foreigners. Here again the Germans were to the front with a complete, reliable, and artistically finished catalogue, which they freely distributed among the jurors. Only the j.a.panese were as perfectly equipped in the matter of literature on their exhibits and as lavish of information to the jurors as the Germans.

I have no doubt that American women are as extensively employed in industrial art as the women of Europe, but, excepting in pottery, their forward stride was not made to appear p.r.o.nounced at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. Woman's work as a maker of laces was not so exhibited as to make it readily distinguishable from men's, although it must have entered largely into the exhibits made, which, however, as I have just said, did not adequately represent the United States, many of the best and most renowned eastern firms having chosen to absent themselves.

Nor were foreign women, always the Germans and Austrians excepted, frequent or prominent in the showing made. In the two countries mentioned women have been undoubtedly taken up as factors which hereafter are to count in the arts and crafts. We found German women in a perceptible number exhibiting side by side with men, holding their own fairly well in decorative painting, as designers of rooms, of carpets and wall coverings, workers in iron and other metals, while in tapestry, weaving embroidery, and lace work their advance is nothing short of astonis.h.i.+ng.

Wherever in the Varied Industries Building, in the German House, in the Austrian Pavilion, and elsewhere the work of German women was incorporated into the general scheme of the decorations and furnis.h.i.+ngs, wherever women, together with men, designed and planned, or wherever they carried out the designs of men, harmony was the result. Women's work was found to blend perfectly with men's when both worked on a common plan to a common end. Of course women in German art, as elsewhere, are numerically immensely in the minority, nor do they as yet often attempt the grand, the monumental, the complex. But many of them are honest and efficient helpers, whose eyes and hands show excellent training. They are, besides, enthusiastic supporters and intelligent abettors of the new movement which aims to achieve h.o.m.ogeneousness in the arts of living.

Again and again in the German exhibits one was constrained to note that the female members of an artist's family were frequently represented by work of their own. One encountered Bruno and Fra Wille, joint designers of rooms, carpets, wall coverings; Professor Behrens's wife plans a variety of things from costumes to book covering. There are feminine Hubers, Spindlers, Laengers in the catalogue, showing that the Germans who have been so long reckoned as addicted to the cult of the "Hausfrau" only, are beginning to accord the woman artist due recognition.

It was all the more amazing to find that Germany, the very Germany who, by general verdict, had given the most complete exhibit of household art ever shown at any exposition, who, as I have just pointed out had brought forward its craftswomen in no contemptible role, should all unconsciously furnish the striking, the cla.s.sical example of the folly of separating the s.e.xes at an exposition. The "Verein Berliner Kunstlevinnen" made an exhibit of exclusively feminine work, which was as pointedly painful, as conspicuously lacking in force and originality, as confused as to arrangement as have been all the previous displays, where the accentuated feminine was relegated to separate little buildings or separate little corners in buildings. I saw more than one German artist hustle his American friends past that part of the Varied Industries Building, where abominations of his misguided countrywomen were on view. And more than one told me that it was a slander on what German women could do. This only goes to prove that the action of the authorities in charge of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition believed to be the fact: That the exhibition of woman's work, apart from men's, runs to the tawdry, the insignificant, and the unnecessary. Therefore, separation of the s.e.xes in the display at expositions should not be tolerated.

Department E, Machinery, Mr. Thomas M. Moore, Chief; Miss Edith J.

Griswold, New York City, Department Juror.

This department comprised 5 groups and 35 cla.s.ses, the group headings being: Steam engines; Various motors; General machinery; Machine tools; a.r.s.enal tools.

Miss Griswold says:

After considerable consideration I almost feel that the least said about women exhibitors in the Machinery Department at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition the better. The fact is, there were no women exhibitors. However, in this department the exhibitors were mostly old firms or very large manufacturers, and while women are undoubtedly making their way into mechanics they have not been in the field long enough to have reached a point where their work of a nature to form exposition exhibits can compete with man's work. The chief of the Machinery Department and one other member of the jury mentioned a Miss Gleason, who is connected with one of the firms that exhibited, and spoke of her ability in the mechanical line and her knowledge of mechanics in the highest of terms. Women are employed in various capacities in nearly every line of work that was exhibited in this department, and Miss Gleason probably stands as an example of the real but unostentatious work of many women who understand the intricacies of machinery fully as well as men with the same degree of training.

That women are making a place for themselves in this department of industry is shown by the Patent Office statistics. The first patents for inventions were granted to men in 1790, but no patent was issued to a woman until May 5, 1809, and the number of inventions granted to them in any one year did not exceed 6 until the year 1862, when 14 were issued.

This number was lowered but once, and that was in 1865, when naturally women had responsibilities of a nature that precluded outside interests, but the direction of which is shown in the fact that two of the 13 applications in that year were--one for "Improved table for hospitals,"

the other for "Improvement in drinking cups for the sick." In 1863 an application was made for "Improvement in ambulances."

It is a significant fact that from the time General Spinner appointed the first woman to be employed under the Government in 1864, her advancement was shown in invention, as well as in all other phases of her existence. At the beginning of the year 1864, fifty-five years after the first patent had been granted to her, she had received but 103 patents. During the next fifteen years, 1,046 patents were granted; during the next ten, 1,428, and during the next five years (from 1889 to 1894), 1,309 patents were issued to women, the number in five years exceeding that granted during the first seventy years. It is to be regretted that the Patent Office records do not show a cla.s.sification of her work during the past ten years, their list practically ceasing March 1, 1895.

The inventions cover a wide and ambitious range, and include, even among their earliest attempts, "Improved war vessel, the parts applying to other structures for defense;" "Improvement in locomotive wheels;" in "Engraving copper;" "Steam whistles;" "Mechanism for driving sewing machines;" "Improved material for packing journals and bearings;"

"Improvement in the mode of preventing the heating of axles and journals;" in "Pyrotechnic night signals;" in "Paper-bag machines;" in "Railway car safety apparatus;" "Conveyors of smoke and cinders for locomotives;" "Sewing machines;" in "Alloys for hardening iron;" in "Alloys to resemble silver;" in "Devices for removing snow from railways;" "Car coupling;" "Attachment for unloading box cars;"

"Railroad car," etc.